The police treat us badly. They hit us. Not for any particular reason. . . just because they feel like it. They've hit me lots of times. They hit with their rifles, or with sticks, on our backs and stomachs. And sometimes they just punch us in the stomach with their hands. They also take our paint thinner and pour it over our heads. They've done that to me five times. It's awful, it hurts really bad. It gets in your eyes and burns; for half an hour you can't see anything.
- Beto R., fifteen, Guatemala

Violence in Police Custody:

This past spring, the police handcuffed me and took me to the station. They thought I stole something but I didn't. They put me in a cell with bars. They kept me there for six days. I was handcuffed the whole time . . . There were always two policemen on duty and they beat me all the time. Sometimes they used their truncheons. They hit me all over, in my ribs, on my head, while they questioned me and asked me why I stole. I told them that I was only begging for food, that I didn't steal anything.
- Hristo H., eleven, Bulgaria

Corporal Punishment in Schools:

In one of my classes one girl was slapped so hard that two of her teeth came out. The teacher was very angry because some of the girls failed a test, and so the teacher gave these girls a choice: three slaps from his hand or ten strokes with his cane. This girl chose the three slaps and so he hit her on her face three times, very hard, and her mouth was bloody and her two teeth came out. And the other girls cried to the teacher, saying, "Look, you have taken out her teeth!" and then the teacher was so angry that he caned everyone again.
- Elizabeth B., age twelve, Kenya

Sexual Violence in Schools:

I didn't go back to school for one month after… everything reminds me of what happened. I have dreams. He is in my dreams. He is in the classroom laughing at me. I can hear him laughing at me in my dreams.
- Pamela C., fifteen-year old sexually assaulted by her teacher, South Africa

Violence in the Workplace:

I got beaten if I arrived late or if I made a mistake; he was constantly abusing me. He hit me on the back and on my hand. I worked with three other children, and he hit them also. If I did not go to work, he would come to my house and catch me and beat me.
- Munni G., a nine-year-old carpet weaver, India

Torture in Orphanages:

They did a torture called "electric chair" on me. I was laid on a metal bed, naked. Then someone takes wires that are connected to 220-volt electricity and touches the metal bed. The power runs through it and the kid lying on the bed shakes.
- Grigory Z., sixteen, Russia

Armed Conflict: